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Millions
of Americans were
transfixed by Wednesday's televised
Congressional hearings (February 27,
2019) in which President Donald
Trump's former personal
attorney, Michael Cohen,
spent hours testifying about alleged
misdeeds committed by his old boss.
At one point Cohen stated he
had threatened an estimated 500
people on Mr. Trump's behalf over
the past decade. As it happens, one
of those threats was directed at a
client of one of the world's best
known domain attorneys, Ari
Goldberger, the founder
of ESQwire.com.
The threat - an attempt to take the
domain name TrumpForPresident.com
away from it's rightful owner (Ari's
client) - put Ari on the warpath
against Cohen and The Trump
Organization.
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Image
from Bigstock
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Ari
Goldberger
Founder, ESQwire.com |
It
was a battle that Ari would
win with a single shot
- a masterfully
written 5-page letter he
sent to The Trump
Organization detailing extensive
case law that
established his client's
rights to the domain so
convincingly that he never
heard from them again.
However, Goldberger never
forgot the incident because
of unethical behavior by
Cohen that he also called
out in his letter, leaving
no doubt he was willing to
take that matter directly to
the Bar Association if
necessary.
Some
other testimony from Cohen
on Wednesday also turned out
to be an interesting part of
the back story to this
incident. Cohen stated he
had been the one who started
Trump's presidential
campaign. Cohen said, “I
certainly did, sir",
citing his registration of
another domain - ShouldTrumpRun.com
- in 2011. Since his
attempt to take
TrumpForPresident.com occurred
in late 2010, |
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it
would appear the former name
was Cohen's consolation
prize after his failed
attempt to hijack the name
owned by Ari's client.
Regarding ShouldTrumpRun.com,
Cohen continued, “2011.
It was my idea. I saw a
document in the newspaper
that said, ‘Who would you
vote for in 2012?’ 6% of
the people turned around and
said they'd vote for Donald
Trump. So I brought it
into his office and I said,
‘Mr. Trump, take a look at
this, wouldn't that be
great?’ And that is
where it all started." |
Due to
legal privacy issues, I can't share
the entire letter Ari sent to The
Trump Organization warning them to
stop their harassment of his client,
however I can share some excerpts
(with some names redacted) that will
give you a very good idea of how
this went down. The letter was
addressed to another attorney on the
Trump legal team (as it included
complaints about Cohen's actions). Ari
wrote: "Mr.
Cohen, acting in his capacity as an
attorney and special counsel to Donald
Trump, acted improperly towards
(client's name), and appears to have
violated the rules of
professional conduct in
attempting to coerce (my client) into
transferring the Domain (TrumpForPresident.com)
to
Trump...During a telephone
conversation on December 9, Mr.
Cohen interrogated him about his
occupation. Upon learning that (my
client) is employed by (company's
name), Mr. Cohen emphatically stated
that Trump was a client of
(company), and that he was going to
call the (company)'s CEO and
complain about (my client). Mr. Cohen
taunted (my client) asking what his
“boss” would think if he knew
(my client) was trying to extort money
from one of (company)'s “biggest
clients.” With (my client) still
on the phone, Mr. Cohen actually
placed a call to Trump’s account
representative at (company) and Mr.
Cohen asked (representative at
company) to access the (company)'s
database to view (my client)'s
private employment records.
(Representative at company) then
proceeded to provide Mr. Cohen with
(my client)'s contact information. Mr.
Cohen’s intent was clearly to
coerce (my client) into surrendering
the Domain
Name
by
embarrassing
him
and
threatening
his
employment.
Such
coercive
tactics
are reprehensible if done by
anyone, but Mr. Cohen is an
attorney and acted in his
capacity as special counsel to
Donald Trump. Mr. Cohen’s conduct,
thus, appears to violate Rule 4.4
of the New York Rules of
Professional Conduct." The
rule is cited, with Goldberger then
continuing, "His request to
access (my client)'s private employment
records further violated his
privacy rights. What’s more,
Mr. Cohen’s actions, perhaps
unwittingly, caused (representative
at company) to violate (company)'s
Code
of Business Conduct (the
“Code”). Under the Code, (company)'s
employees are required to
maintain the confidentiality of all
(company) employee information
including “personally identifiable
information.” The Code further
warns employees to “not utilize
any confidential
information... for the use of any
other person or entity.” While
Ari's extensive documentation of
case law supporting his client's
rights was more than enough to
cause The Trump Organization to
abandon their efforts to steal his
client's domain, you can see where
the passages about Cohen's conduct
alone would also stop that effort in its
tracks. Goldberger closed his letter
with this: "(My
client) has done nothing wrong. He has been subject to attack and abuse by representatives of Trump and this is
unacceptable. He will continue with his plans to develop the Domain along with Politics2012.com. While we doubt that Mr. Trump directed, or was privy to, the intricacies of
(my client)'s browbeating, the manner in which my client was treated by Trump personnel reflects poorly on an individual seriously
considering the privilege of serving as
President of the United States. I am sure if Mr. Trump were apprised of the facts of
(my client)'s treatment he would disapprove. My client has no animus towards Donald Trump or the Trump Organization. To the contrary he is a fan and has a great deal of respect for Mr. Trump.
We can also understand Mr. Cohen’s zeal in performing his duties as special counsel to Mr. Trump and appreciate his dedication and enthusiasm in promoting Mr. Trump’s candidacy for president. Nevertheless,
this is a country of laws, and
(my client) has abided by those laws and deserves to be treated accordingly.
We will, thus, not tolerate any further intimidation
of (my client)." When
you keep in mind that all of this
written nine years ago, it is
remarkable how relevant it is to
today's news headlines.
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